BoF speaks to Woo Youngmi, one of South Korea’s most respected exports, who started her menswear business, which now generates $29.4 million per year, during a period of dramatic upheaval in her native country.

Already the world’s biggest duty-free market, South Korea said on Wednesday it will issue more licenses for downtown duty-free shops, doubling down on a strategy that has helped it outstrip regional rivals seeking to reel in shopaholic Chinese tourists.

S.Koreans go mass-market, online for luxury goods (Reuters) “Sixty years ago, war-torn South Korea was one of the poorest countries in the world. Now it is the world’s 13th largest economy and a magnet for luxury goods, prying open the wallets of its wealthy people as well as tourists. Indeed, the country’s appetite for high-end labels has led to the christening of a Louis Vuitton handbag as the